http://blog.randomstances.org life is a smörgåsbord Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:49:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://blog.randomstances.org/2010/04/you-know-you-have-been-out-of-finland-for-just-about-long-enough-when/ http://blog.randomstances.org/2010/04/you-know-you-have-been-out-of-finland-for-just-about-long-enough-when/#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:41:22 +0000 Anu http://blog.randomstances.org/?p=410

You prefer scrubbing your dishes with a sponge instead of a brush (but still can’t understand why something as practical as a drying cabinet has not been exported far and wide (from Finland, of course)).

A sunny  day does not cause restlessness, anxiety or cleaning spur in the spring or chronic office-fobia in the summer.

You are used to the idea that sunny winter days are usually not colder than the grey cloudy ones.

You are not surprised when a perfect stranger starts talking to you in public transportation or at a cafe (and are considering you might some day even perform this act of bravery yourself)

You fondly reminiscence the days of wearing a T-shirt indoors (while it’s -20C outside).

You would feel embarrassed biking/walking/crawling through the city center piss-drunk.

Please / alsjeblieft / s’il vous plait / etc are part of your everyday vocabulary.

You can touch-type on non-Finnish keyboards (and can finally stop cursing while writing code – I dare you, all those brackets are a real bitch on the Finnish one!).

Sporting events such as nordic skiing / ice hockey / formula / rally / Finland vs. Kazakhstan football match are barely lines on your Facebook news feed.

Swedish company feels cozy and familiar, and even speaking the language makes you feel a little bit less of a stranger in a strange land.

You almost feel homesick reading people who’ve obviously been there long enough.

…you no longer feel all that apologetic

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